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To the Editor: Dr Sanchini and colleagues¹ studied the relevance of urine telomerase in the diagnosis of bladder cancer. The authors expressed telomerase activity in arbitrary enzymatic units (AEU), which added the potential benefit of a quantitative cutoff or baseline value to the telomeric repeat amplification protocol (TRAP) assay. The quantification of telomerase activity, expressed as AEU, may allow for a more rigorous interpretation of the results and facilitate the clinical use of telomerase activity as a biomarker for cancer.

The article did not discuss earlier studies that suggested that telomerase activity may be a useful biomarker for the detection of bladder cancer. Consistent with Sanchini et al¹, Kavaler et al² found that 88 of 104 (85%) of spontaneously voided urine specimens from patients with bladder cancer tested positive for telomerase activity; 23 of 29 (79%) of the grade 1 tumors, 32 of 38 (84%) of the grade 2 . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Brian C.-S. Liu, PhD
bliu@partners.org
Molecular Urology Laboratory
Brigham and Women's Hospital
Harvard Medical School
Boston, Mass

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